Hey James: I bought a SanDisk 256MB Ultra CF Card today, but they also have an Ultra II card out that's newer (obviously advertised as faster).

Do you have any idea if I should go back to the shop and exchange it for the Ultra II? The write speed is obviously limited also by the camera itself, but I've no idea whether the extra speed difference in the Ultra II is worth the little bit extra.
(Ultra II > Ultra > Regular speeds obviously)

Have a good NYE all

I can get the non-alcoholic drinks, plates cutlery and cups, as well as the snacks. As for alcoholic drinks, it depends on the working capital of my crew, that is Bennie, Spain, and guess who, our old friend Jeremy Lee from NSB. Of course it would be nice to consider the wills of those non alcoholics, but in this fine occasion, that can be overlooked.

Oh and I heard there's going to be late showers on NYE. Let's hope it doesn't destroy the fireworks, or more importantly, our attempt to camp under the stars.

I think we should also pat KJ on the back for the effort invested to get this thing rolling. We all know how hard it is to get something organised among our group, even without the added difficulty of indecision and delayed response by many. You go KJ.

James, family comes first. We will take lots of pictures, drink excessively, and enjoy the night like there's no tomorrow.

I'll be with my family on new years eve. Have fun all! Take lots of pictures, drink modestly and eat as much as you possibly can.

Suggestion by Darren....
Possible swimming at Manly Beach ......... move BBQ to nitetime at my place....
eeehe

swim == good idea since the day tomorrow will be ugly hot..

ehe
of course we can view sights of North Head as well.

PPL WHO CAN'T COME ETC MSG ME ASAP

never had to knock on wood but i know someone who has which makes me wonder if i could it makes me wonder...

I don't think people will be sleeping much.
Those requiring a lift to KJs place (convinient for me), message me.

ADVICE on those who are sleeping over..

bring a sleeping bag....

it helps

nye file here.

James needs to chmod it first. Host it on your optus site

can't access your roster.

ALSO... I NEED PPL TO FILL THE BLANKS (i.e the question marks in there..)
now who is willing to undertake these tasks... ??

Here is my dodgy roster for NYE
DA DODGY ROSTER!!!

MEETING TIMES: Stage 2 will not happen b4 stage 1 hence ALL MEET FOR STAGE 1:

the drivers meet up at my place by 11:30 am
ADDRESS: 93 Allambie Rd Allambie HTs 2100

The non-drivers (i.e ppl takin pub. transport) meet at Manly Wharf by 12pm (TRY NOT TO BE TOO LATE HERE>>)

I am... in fact... we all are..... but i dun see no pants on fire..

eeheh

Anyways...

FINAL PLANS: (I hope i dun have to change this)

Stage 1: has been relocated to NORTH HEAD (Little Manly Point) . Here we will be bummin around etc. bbq till sundown.

Stage 2: we can view fireworks from North Head (microscopic) or from my house (less microscopic) and head to my place for some downing...

Bad news... I lost ability to drive car... hence we only have 3 cars.. but since its at Little Manly it dun matter that much.

ALL DRIVERS REPORT TO ME ON ICQ IMMEDIATELY.

FOOD PREPARATIONS REQUIRED....

So far I'm dealing with 3kg of chilli Pork
char = snacks ...
darren = kebab skewers..

we may need some ppl for salad and drinks..

ANY SUGGESTIONS/DISAGREEMENTS IT IS TOO LATE>>>
(or u can just icq me)

are you a liar?

are liars' pants really on fire?

lol butters, you ain't seen nothing yet. I took a shot of a Goanna/Iguana the size of a cricket bat. I'll show it to you on NYE.

Yi, actually the Bureau didn't work it out, it was subjectively reported by the aforementioned sample.

i didn't know the eff bee aye collected information on australians. oh wait, yes i did.

"The bureau worked out that the most unhappy person in Australia would be an unemployed, underweight separated female smoker aged 40-64, who never drank alcohol and lived in rural NSW."
from SMH
(there. now they are in quotes. please direct all grammatical or logical errors to SMH. :P )

so, final plans for nye?

Aw crikey! I saw this little bugga in me backyard the other day





Its not that big, but this lizard is exactly one of those really tiny ones you see scurrying around in your backyard only its hero size. The box height is 25cm. Normal sized ones are around 8cm and this one was between 15-20cm. Just thought you might like to know

It would be the dance of death. We just have to look at the disco ball and hey presto we don't need glasses anymore. It'll attract all the nerds

what they need are shiny disco balls.
so instead of getting destroyed by laser cannons, they can go clubbing instead.

Exactly, the taiwanese have their big mirror set to deflect the laser back at his hometown

marc, i think charlie's hometown is the one doing the pointing with the big red pointers.
;)

JONO THAT IS WHERE I WANT TO BE!
prism towers and prism tanks?
Lol James you read the Taipei Times?! j00 spy=)

Warzone? Whats happening? Is the mirror pointed at your hometown?

(At first sight I thought u said Lidcombe had become a warzone)

Omg, my home town is becoming a war zone, I gotta tell my grandma to evacuate.

What they need is a giant mirror.

Why do all the non-english speaking european idols look terrible? And yes, I include slutty as a form of terrible?

Um, I'm not trying to break up the group, but I don't think camping is good for nye. Perhaps yes for a casual outing or sleepover. We don't have to do anything extravagant either ie KISS

Other than that, worse come to worse we can just stay at home for nye. I got no probs with that :)

China has up to twenty Laser canons deployed in Fujian, aimed at Taiwan.

there could be some aborigine custom where you are not allowed to take pictures.
but then there are all those postcards flying around.

sorry for the late notice, but we're watching the lotr tomorrow (saturday, 27th).
the session's at 2:30, but we're gonna be meeting at 12pm for lunch, in front of the cinemas.
make it if you can.

Charlie: I'm sure Ayers' Rock is open for Photography. Even if it's not, what are they going to do, set up a 50km radius so you can't see it? This rock's a bit bigger than penguins. ^^
Hahaha....Thankyou, but this is Hong Kong, with a snapshot camera, with me.
:)
Wow effect generally comes into play only when you take a shot no one has ever seen the likes of before, which is pretty funky.

haha thankyou Yi...assuming you are talking to me.

I reckon for NYE you should all come to Times Square....in Causeway Bay....(in Hong Kong)

was searching up norway's song, the one Will sang.
She's So High.
can't believe some of the misheard lyrics
the last one really cracks me up.

btw, if you are having to click more than once to open that link in a new tab/window, then you are getting ripped off.
Firebird

i deserve to be shot.
... but some of the Idol singers are pretty good.

Return of the King is alright.
Erm
Seriously.
What's happening with New Year's?
It's getting frikking close

Welcome back Kwong, just in time too
They need your car again just like last New year's eve
^^

nar, i ain't going for a marathon.
just RoTK.

LOL would we have to watch Fellowship and 2 towers first? I don't think I'd have concentration for RotK in that case. It would probably just look like the other 2.

Oh, not that I could make it anyway ^^

i am all down for RoTK.

oh and did i mention nice pictures?

ooh and i am enjoying my lack of food during daylight as a new Moslem rabbi.

oooh and is anyone down for some shopping? ... Boxing Day discounts anyone? clothes? are we still going to wear that ripped shirt along with black leather school shoes to Lucy's next birthday?

the other two movies are the earlier lord of the ring movies, the fellowship of the ring and the two towers.
looks like its off though, logistics and the prospect of watching 9 hours of movies is a bit overwhelming.

Hope Ayer's Rock is open to photography. Might be just another Phillips Island.

John, what's the other two movies with the marathon?

Johno, those are mediocre shots, all lacking the X-factor. I hope you didn't make any of them your wallpaper.
(Joking hehe). They are good shots, but still lacking that 'wow!' effect, as with 98% of all photos.

w00t!
Compliment from James *plus* emoticonic beer cheers.
[blushes]

Those shots were taken from a sub $AU550 Olympus Mju-10 snapshot camera. ^^

And as you can see I learned to resize. :)
/me is proud

Already been to that site, Yi.

I don't think northern beaches idea is very good. As idylic as KJ made it sound, I just don't picture NYE camping. But its still good that your thinking it through. However, if in the end thats the case then I too won't drive.

Hey Jono, nice compositions!

If you're bored, check my journal for some mountain walking photos.

And a Merry Christmas to all. And a happy Ramadan to Yi.
^^

i think eric is out of the question.

I know.... we can bum at Eric's House... or Benny's Place... ehee

altho we WOULD need permission there

i think a more pressing question is what are we gonna do afterwards?
don't think anyone's gonna want to drive after 9 hours of movies.

Sounds Great...... Except ... How the hell do I get to Hurstville?/??

lord of the rings: the return of the king.
there's a movie marathon on the 28th, 9pm hurstville. anyone down?
or we can just watch the movie if the marathon is a little too hardcore.

Are there any blackhawks there?

Good enough John. Try and get a lift from someone else...

Cos car is the only way to get to West Head... Which is stage 2.... And///

Church Point ====> close to Mona Vale
West Head ====> on top of the mountain.... Church Point is at the base of this mountain

i have no idea where church point is.
i have no idea where round two is either.
i do not want to drive.

yes, i never stop talking about myself.

REQUESTING FEEDBACK ASAP

Here is the current blueprint:

Stage 1: we head to Church Point for a BBQ/usual Park Games/Fishing ... (the fishing part is still unconfirmed)

Stage 2: We head up the mountain from Church Point to a place called West Head. Nice Views/ SPEED LIMITLESS LONG STRIP OF ROAD. Good for those who wanna seek the calm feeling of northern beaches.

Stage 3: We head towards my place (the backyard.. ) and enjoy fireworks seen LIVE from my place (that is optional of course), and head on to round 2 (which i'm sure most ppl would know what it is by now)

Stage 4: For the ppl who dunno what I was talkin about in stage 3, can enjoy a nice New Year's Evening Under the stars. (require 2 tents )

yes... many beaches at ayers rock.

confirmation has been received from my parents that the backyard is usable... (as well as the veranda)

Yeap by early 2005 we'll have James' Lexus and Charlie's CRV so there will be two *roomy* cars *designed* for these sort of long distance, driving on the beach road trips. :)
By that I mean Lexus goes long distance, CRV goes Beachy.

Definitely Ayers Rock

its only a one month suspension, which is nearly over anyway.

uluru... no thanks. i prefer somewhere that has water. i'm down for new zealand on low tide though.

thanks yi, but that site is lacking in one thing which i represent. class.

[edit]john, the perfect page for a possible low-class ignorant you...[/edit]

I hadnt parasailed before, but yup thats how it went.

Northern beaches sounds good

LOL roadtrip sounded successful!! Uluru next time? =) I didnt know that your excel could do 137kmh. At least the roads down in Melb arent like in Tas.... either 50kmh or 100kmh limits... often unclear which apply where.

Yes a merry christmas indeed... no shop is open and my house is an oven.

Merry Christmas all!

You'll find a way.

Haha that's very true Charlie, spot on.

oh and Kwong: Roadtrip was great. Despite being pulled over by Melbourne's finest, unmarked, silent police and being issued with a 137km/h speeding ticket in a 100 zone to both me AND John, it was good. :)

Highlights:
1. 1.3GB of photos and movies uploaded to each of James' and my notebooks during the 6-day trip, thanks to James, Eric, Yi and Rosalie's digital cameras.
2. 3500+ km clocked on the road.
3. Most beautiful thunder and lighting you've ever seen in the country side.
4. Great Ocean Road was an awesome drive. Can't count the number of times my car drifted the tail around corners.
5. Took my Excel on the beach in Melbourne.
6. John's Astina dropped into a pot hole the size of two cars and width of the lane while travelling at 80km/h (he had already slowed from 100). He reportedly got airtime and some scratches. I went on the other side of the road. Note to drivers: Take note of "Reduce Speed" signs in the future.
7. Ate and picked too many cherries, but "Man they're good."
8. Had some of the best food ever including "Dubbo Bay icecream" and the best steak NSW has to offer (also situated in Dubbo).
9. Parkes Radiotelescope is huge and we hopped into unauthorised areas to take some better photos. Most of us watched The Dish on my notebook before arriving at Parkes.
10. Eric's great at picking accommodation. Randomly selects the cheapest and the best and books it on the day in 5 mins flat.
11. We ended up operating on only 75% of our initial budget even after eating upper class food and staying in 2.5, 3, 3.5, 3.5, 4.5 star motels respectively. Mainly due to my inaccurately conservative fuel consumption estimates as well as under-budget accommodation. It does not, however, include the $265-a-piece fines John and I received. Which my brother has of course written a letter for.
12. Great speech by James on the second last night. We have no tape records of this speech.

And that's all I can be bothered to type out at this point.
:)
P.S. John and I are banned from driving in Victoria for one year? Or one month?

There will be plans in the works for a 2005 Road Trip: Destination Darwin via Perth and Ayers Rock.
^^

Kwong: very nice shot of Bangkok. The saturation of the silhouettes gives an indication of depth.

i presume kj and benny have answered in the affirmative upon inquiry regarding the availability to their homes?

Welcome back, Kwong! Just in time for NYE too.

Speaking of which right now we have two alternatives:

1. Northern beaches then crash at KJ's
2. Bicentennial Park then crash at Benny's

None are confirmed so if anyone has any other suggestions then go nuts

www.noradsanta.org

PARASAILINGGGGGG!!!!
It's awesome! Have you done it before this trip? They throw you on like a rig in the ocean and there's a speedboat below that you tether onto, and when the boat goes, you launch straight into the air right?

hahahaha ICBM. Very strange cloud pattern.

Hmm that's funny.

Lol that was an ICBM headed for China tho .... yeah that was a strange cloud pattern =)
Nah that plane shot was taken from a bus on the freeway.
Yup Pattayas nice, but overcrowded.... no jetskiing, only parasailing

Yeah Geocities doesnt let ppl directly link images

oooh w00t!
Hey those pics are pretty funky. I didn't know Thailand was launching rockets from Bangkok....into the Sun.
I see you also got the window seat on touchdown. :)
and yeah pattaya's awesome! Did you go jetskiing?

the links do work, you just have to "copy shortcut" and then paste into address bar, instead of just clicking the links.

hahahaha

Once Kwong comes back the whole blog's aliiiiiiiiive ^^

So many hours of CFN there =)

haha those pages seem to be unavailable...

Good news:

"I am pleased to be writing to notify you that the Exchange Program
Scholarship Selection Committee has awarded you an exchange related
scholarship for the Session 1, 2004 commencing cohort.

Congratulations, you have been awarded the following scholarship:

Engineering @ UNSW - Travel Scholarship
Valued at $1800"
Not heaps, but it helps ^^

Bangkok/Pattaya... nothing special, typical tourist destinations. Went with a honkie tour group so the itinery included too much shopping. Nice beaches/water activities.... but not as nice as Sydney. Ohh Go karting was not as fun as anticipated, mainly because there were little midgets.

Bangkok
Thai Airlines
Pattaya

How was your mad roadtrip?

For the motherland.

rar!!!

how was thailand?

Hey. Going to get some food, someone took my airplane meal.

Movie Quote:

"Appreciate what you have, while you still have it"
Warren Schimidt in 'About Schimidt'.

i suggest a mini roadtrip away from the city

yes we should.

beep beep bop bop bop beep beep bop bop bop
back with another one of those block rockin' beats.
we're about ready to rock steady.
beep beep bop bop bop beep beep bop bop bop
back with another one of those block rockin' beats.

what is everyone doing for New Year's Eve?
Shall we plan something?

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on his diary:

"Dear Diary. Today I renounced our nation's nuclear program. Those silly Americans and Brits actually thought we HAD one! I'm going to wait for the check to clear, then I'll tell them they just bought a cement factory. Serves them right for killing my daughter!"

Result of blowing USD$8000 is forbidden error

bad news jono. i have just been informed that people in the states have not heard of such a thing as a kebab.

hmm i don't think kwong's back. its just his editing date thingy coming back to bite us.
he made that post earlier this year.

The result of blowing USD$8000 on the Canon 1Ds

happy one year closer to death.

haha Yi

Yes Kwong's Birthday is July 9, 1984
Don't trust his ICQ date, he was not born on Dec 7, 1941 - the day of Pearl Harbor.

and what today's...20th...Dec...

How was Taiwan/Hong Kong/Thailand?

... am i seeing things?
i swear john had a post saying kwong's back or something...
hmmm you mods need to be more responsible!! :P

[edit] what's going on? how come kwong's post is... above everyone elses??[/edit]
[edit2] and i thought jono and kwong's birthday was in july??[/edit2]

Alexis,
Libya just decided to give up its WMD program.
Looks like the neocons' strategy was right after all.

Gary:
Happy birthday, may all the the world's ICBMs belong to you.

The are second-hand rejected items.

Do you guys have any comments about eBay and electronic goods?

I'm considering if buying a digital camera on ebay is a good idea. This would be once i'm in the US, probably.
Canon PowerShot G5 or G3.

They're quite cheap over ebay, that's all.

cascading style sheets eh?

brother pele's in the back,
sweet zina's in the front,
cruising down the freeway,
in the hot, hot sun.

suddenly red blue lights
flash us from behind
loud voice booming
"please step out onto the line".

pele breathes words of comfort
zina just hides her eyes
policeman taps his shades
is that a chevy 69?

how bizarre
how bizarre
how bizarre...

LOL I was jk

haha okay
I'll email you the invitation at ...where?

Give me admin! James did it

aha thanks John.

haha okay changed it to Jono's juicy journal. or journals. or something.
I'll just keep it all in one account, don't know if i can create more accounts with iinet. Don't know, don't care. :)

Actually that colour scheme is defaulted to a template called Split Pea, which is one of the choices you can make when creating on blogger.com.

It doesn't look like it took long to set up, but actually took about 2.5 hours or so. Took me a bit to get it to work on my own webspace, instead of blogspot.com's ad-supported space.

I personalised most of the fonts and changed the formatting of the tempate a bit. Spent a lot of time looking through that really cool HTML they use, it's so simple to understand and then change. At the top of the html page it says, "Style Text/css" or something along those lines.
Very nice language, whatever it is.

But I thought the yellow-gold title kinda looks a bit gay. Green BG's good, but even I got bored of it looking at it for 2.5 hours straight. Publishing and republishing and republishing...
Also takes longer to publish than this blog. Like in Crazy Browser, when you post, you can hear it clicks (i.e. refreshes) 4 times. My one takes 7 clicks for some reason. No idea.
Edit Actually I just realised this blog takes 7 or 8 clicks too now. Strange.

Otherwise, yeah. It's going to look lonely with just me posting... :(
I can add you guys to allow you to post, might defeat the purpose of a journal though, and that's what this blog is for - everyone.
But then again, my blog covers a different, more specific topic. This is a general forum for chatting.

LoL, umm, I meant jono's blog. But...black is a nice colour scheme too. Thats right, as a dedicated fan, without me all of youse would be nothing

thank you.
i pride myself in my colour scheme. to me, the colour scheme is everything. the world would implode without them.
i'd like to thank the academy, the producers, mom, dad, oh gee i had all these things to say and now i've forgotten it all. but most of all, i'd like to thank my fans. yes, thank you.

*hiss reeearrrrrr*

I never said his queue was longer than mine

Hey I didn't notice before but your colour scheme looks really cool and mellow. Nice work. How long did it take you?

Also iiNet lets you use blogger...Optus doesn't

jono didn't say he liked you. he just said if you liked him...
which i assume will have a longer queue than yours.

Hey a lot of people like me. Get to the back of a very long queue.

Some ISPs give you the option of creating new accounts. My optus connection gives me upto 5 email accounts, each with 10mb webspace. Does iinet have something similar? If so create new accounts, one to store the images and the other for the blog.

Jono's juicy journal sounds better or Triple J

Okay Marc if you like me, link up my journal blog whenever you can.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dcklee/blog.html

i.e. just link it in on the left somewhere for easy access.

Note that the time shown for postings is set for Indianapolis, Indiana time.
It's Eastern Standard Time, i.e. alongside New York etc. -5:00 GMT, but never undergoes daylight savings.

P.S. When someone comes up with a better blog name do suggest it

QOTD

john (10:40 PM) :

lol
what's the average temp over there? [Purdue]
i think i'm going to love it there...
that's right, i should change to aero/law, and do an exchange to finland/purdue... and get mad scanidivian chicks

John: Couldn't I just store the whole thing on iinet's webspace, then just get marc to put a link from this blog to it? That way you don't need to store another address in your favourites folder etc

iinet has 30mb i think.
so you might want to host the website somewhere, and store the images there.

haha

Charlie: Yeah I don't plan to post every day on that personal blog. It's to keep a journal of interesting events and thoughts during my exchange period, stored online for easy access, rather than as a document on my computer alone. I would post whenever something interesting crops up. Maybe once a day, maybe once a week, or even once a month, depending on what happens and when. Posts would be by events, not by time.

Also, I recommend you go for the honours. It'll be so worth it for you.

Marc: I didn't really intend it to be an alternative/competing blog to this one. It's essentially a personal blog where only I post, and if anyone's bored, they can check out Jono's Juicy Journeys (wow - think i found my blog name already) whenever they feel like it. I would check this blog frequently as well, I'm guessing.

[Edit]
Only question is, where should I host it? Need at least a bit of webspace for any large pics.
CSE's not possible, is it? I have iinet webspace, not sure if it's sufficient.

i'm the preeminent unmatchable zenith ultimate uber super duper overlord and king of understatements.

Why online journal? We'll just spam it anyway so you might as well write to the blog

Online journal hey? I think one need not post regularly. Quality is better than quantity.

Thanks for the complements but those results aren't really that amazing. Better than effort deserves yes but definitely not indicative of one's potential.

I'am seriously contemplating doing psych honours and postgrad. Just made the cut off GPA requirement. But that'll be another 3 years!

Butters there were sufficient evidence to suggest that I was starring the night before, or to be exact, the morning on the day of two final exams.

Needless to say, Kimiko is Eric. Man that tone sounds so much like 'those' spams.

Hum...from Yi's and Johno's performance one can confidently conclude that the more subjects you do, the better you perform.

Hey not every house has chimneys.

haha john

oooh very nice yi. 75's great. better than my bloody 74.250. Resume: "Almost a distinction average, but not good enough. Hire me anyway?"

Also thinking about setting up a simple blog just to keep as an online journal for next year.

butters, you have been a bad bad boy!
dispelling santa like that is going to cost you.
you are going to get a lump of coal this year!

jono, my WAM's 75. it seems i am cruising and will be cruising at 75. :)

hey i've read that one about santa.
but santa is a saint, so he can perform miracles.

Oooh very nice yi.
90 for gen ed =]
stats stats stats yi...tut tut tut...muhuahuahua
How is your overall wam now anyhow?

hahaha go marcccc

> > Subject: Christmas Science-What Tha?
> > >
> > > A Concise Analysis of Christmas Science
> > Principles
> > > >
> > > > There are approximately two billion children
> > (person under 18) in
> > > the
> > > > world. However, since Santa does not visit
> > children of Muslim,
> > > Hindu,
> > > > Jewish or Buddhist (expect maybe in Japan)
> > religions, this reduces
> > > the
> > > > workload for Christmas night to 15% of the
> > total, or 378 million
> > > > (according
> > > > to the population reference bureau). At an
> > average (census) rate
> > > of 3.5
> > > > children per household, that comes to 108
> > million homes, presuming
> > > there
> > > > is
> > > > at least one good child in each. Santa had
> > about 31 hours of
> > > Christmas
> > > > to
> > > > work with, thanks to the different time zones
> >
> > and the rotation of
> > > the
> > > > earth, assuming east to west (which seems
> > logical). This works out
> > > to
> > > > 967.7 visits per second. This is to say that
> >
> > for each Christian
> > > > household
> > > > with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th
> > of a second to park
> > > the
> > > > sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill
> > the stocking,
> > > distribute
> > > > the
> > > > remaining presents under the tree, eat
> > whatever snacks have been
> > > left
> > > > for
> > > > him, get back up the chimney, jump into the
> > sleigh and get onto the
> > > next
> > > > house. Assuming that each of these 108
> > million stops is evenly
> > > > distributed
> > > > around the earth (which, of course, we know
> > to be false, but will
> > > accept
> > > > for the purposes for our calculations), we
> > are now talking about
> > > 0.78
> > > > miles
> > > > per household; a total trip of 75.5 million
> > miles, not counting
> > > bathroom
> > > > stops or breaks. This mean Santa's sleigh is
> >
> > moving at 650 miles
> > > per
> > > > second -- 3,000 times the speed of sound.
> > > >
> > > > For purposes of comparison, the fastest man
> > made vehicle, the
> > > Ulysses
> > > > space
> > > > probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second,
> >
> > and a conventional
> > > > reindeer
> > > > can run 15 miles per hour. The
> > payload of the sleigh adds
> > another
> > > > interesting element. Assuming that each
> > child gets nothing more
> > > than a
> > > > medium sized LEGO set (two pounds), the
> > sleigh is carrying over 500
> > > > thousand tons, not counting Santa himself.
> > > >
> > > > On land, a conventional reindeer can pull no
> > more than 300 pounds.
> > > Even
> > > > granting that the "flying" reindeer can pull
> > 10 times the normal
> > > amount,
> > > > the job can't be done with eight or even nine
> >
> > of the -- Santa would
> > > need
> > > > 360,000 of them. This increases the payload,
> >
> > not counting the
> > > weight of
> > > > the sleigh, another 54,000 tons, or roughly
> > seven times the weight
> > > of
> > > > the
> > > > Queen Elizabeth (the ship, not the monarch).
> >
> > 600,000 tons
> > > travelling at
> > > > 650 miles per second creates enormous air
> > resistance - this would
> > > heat
> > > > up
> > > > the reindeer in the same fashion as a
> > spacecraft re-entering the
> > > earth's
> > > > atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer would
> > absorb 14.3
> > > quintillion
> > > > joules
> > > > of energy per second each. In
> > short, they would burst into
> > flames
> > > > instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind
> >
> > them and creating
> > > > deafening
> > > > sonic booms in their wake.
> > > >
> > > > The entire reindeer team would be vaporised
> > with 4.26 thousandths
> > > of a
> > > > second, or right about the time Santa reached
> >
> > the fifth house on
> > > his
> > > > trip.
> > > > Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as
> >
> > a result of
> > > accelerating
> > > > from
> > > > a dead stop to 650 m.p.s. in .001 seconds,
> > would be subjected to
> > > > acceleration forces of 17,000 g's. A
> > 250 pound Santa (which
> > seems
> > > > ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back
> >
> > of the sleigh by
> > > 4,315,015
> > > > pounds of force, instantly crushing his bones
> >
> > and organs and
> > > reducing
> > > > him
> > > > to a quivering blob of pink goo.
> > > >
> > > > Therefore, if Santa did exist, he's dead now.
> > > >
> > > > Merry Christmas.

Course Survey S2 2003 - COMP2041 Software Construction

I feel the course covered too many topics on too much of a superficial level. The course did not really delve into much content and only brushed upon interesting topics such as scripting with perl and shell, which were probably the most interesting part of the course. Also there was overlapping content on testing and analysis which may have best been left for Data Org to make room for greater depth on other topics. My thought is that if the course did not go further detail into each subject then it would be better if the faculty made it a general 3 unit course perhaps to be taken parallel with COMP3120.

That is not really a complaint, just a suggestion. My major complaint would have to be with the total inadequacy and non-caring attitude of the course admin. If you had taken a look at the first assignment, you may have noticed many people failed. It was not a difficult assignment by any means. Many others like me thought they had completely finished the assignment and were in for a rude awakening when they found out they failed.

One of the autotest data (used for majority of the tests) was different to the way we had modeled our code and they used more than one input file to test the program. The specification made no mention of testing more than one file (nor the FAQ) let alone how we would represent information from more than one input. Unlike data org, the person who drafted and tested the assignment did not provide test data to test the program. I “completed” my assignment with more than a week to the due date and I requested test data to be put up onto the site. I asked the course admin about several aspects of the assignment before (to which I received replies), but this request was ignored – not even a reply to say no.

The autotest data used for the assignment seemed to suggest that one of the objectives of the assignment is to literally guess what the marker wants. The Specification and FAQ had major gaping holes when compared with the test data used. It is ridiculous to assume that students could just fill in these gaps themselves. Does this course work on the basis that if the student cannot guess what the marker wants, then it’s their problem? I did preempt such problems occurring which was why I asked for test data an entire week before the due date but as I said before, this was ignored. It would have only taken about 30 minutes max to upload some fresh test data apart from the only 1 provided.

Conveniently, a week before the results were released, John Plaice said concerning the second assignment that if it did not fit the automarking criteria then you will get a 0 and “the tiniest fiddle playing the saddest song for you”. Of course everyone thought it was funny until they got their first assignment mark back.

After the first assignment, I realised it was going to be one of “those” subjects and the second assignment only seemed to prove it. It has nothing to do with my final result. There are other difficult subjects like DSS which I found to be fun (the breadboard) and important, despite not getting high marks and I know when my marks are caused by my laziness – I did not approach software construction with an uncaring attitude. I came into software construction with a very positive frame of mind and I was actually looking forward to it. After finishing it, I leave with a very disheartened view especially on the course admin who didn’t care and were lazy. I certainly hope I can say that this is the worst subject I have taken in my science degree.

Post up the negative feedback you gave cse. I want fresh ideas next semester. I just reread James' course survey comment on DSS. Now thats inspiration

Orright! My favourite part of the semester, CSE course surveys - the part where I diss the shit out of the course so it improves for all u bitches :P

This semester: Soft Cons. I'm gonna a lot of fun filling this survey out

winamp5 is da bomb!

Charlie, you are amazing. :)
and John, well you are second to Charlie.

just realised i haven't posted my results yet.
for your viewing pleasure

S2 COMP2021 Digital System Structures........83 DN
S2 COMP3121 Algorithms & Programming Tech....68 CR
S2 GENS4015 Brave New World..................90 HD
S2 GENT0604 Critical Thinking................75 DN
S2 MATH2859 Prob, Stats and Information......58 PS
S2 SENG2020 Software Eng Workshop 2B.........79 DN

Argh.. no fair! i still havn't seen jono on the webcam >.<

What about those who get one shy off the cut: 45, 49, 64, 74, 84, 99?

Nice Charlie. It looks like cramming is working for you. Were starring the night before?

w00t charlie!
haha very nice, very nice.
You are so set for majoring in psychology later on. It's so Charlie.
Dr Charlie Zhang, Psy.D, A.B.P.P, F.A.C.P, B.C.F.E
[Yes they're actually real! google it]

Also nice John. I'm always amazed at those who can get either 50 (spot on pass) or 46 (spot on pass conceded) or so on.
Amazing talent.

BTW I've now webcammed with Marc, James and John too! muhuahua. Get on the bandwagon people

Year Study Period Unit Title Mark Grade Description Credits
2003 Full Year PSY 222 Design and Statistics II 77 D Distinction 4
2003 Second Half Year BBA 250 Human Resource Management 69 CR Credit 3
2003 Second Half Year PSY 235 Developmental Psychology 74 CR Credit 3
2003 Second Half Year PSY 236 Biopsychology and Learning 79 D Distinction 3

Overall GPA = 73

Biopsychology? Go screw yourself cause I ain't touching you ever again.

shut up, just shut up shut up.

"relative utility of death"
Since it is unfathmable, it surely isn't describable by adjectives conjoured up while alive!

2003 Second Half Year ACCG105 Introductory Financial Acc 50 P Pass 3
2003 Second Half Year ACST201 Fin Technqs Instruments & Mkts 68 CR Credit 3
2003 Second Half Year ECON201 Macroeconomic Analysis 59 P Pass 4
2003 Second Half Year LAW 206 Criminal Law & Procedure II 72 CR Credit 3

not what i was hoping for, but at least i passed everything.

Hence what joy is there to eternal life?
But death is also unfathomable, until one dies.
Hence we do not know the relative utility of death.

lol w00t.
hahaha Alexis. You moron. You oxy-moron. ^^

James: Denise-ed it with cameras today. Contact me for all the juicy goss. I know everything about you now.

And someone forgot their italics tag...

Quote of the day: Saddam Hussein Al-Tikriti:
His last words before leaving his pit: "I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate."

However:
The soldiers, according to Major Reed, replied with the words "President Bush sends his regards".

Thank God I am still an atheist...

you
you've blown it all sky high
without a reason why
by telling me your lies
you've blown it all sky
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggghhhhh

repeat

Anything "Forever" is unfathomly horrible, living included.
But 'dead' has no time sense, so it's actualy better, relatively speaking.

forever young, I want to be forever young.
do you really want to live forever, forever, and ever.

20 hours till our results come out
May the angels of luck be with us.

ace of spades!!

and now, for your viewing pleasure, my results.. (please hold all applause until the end of the post.

========================================================
Session Course Title Result
========================================================
S2 COMP2011 Data Organisation................66 CR
S2 COMP2021 Digital System Structures........66 CR
S2 COMP2041 Software Construction............45 FL
S2 COMP2920 Professional Issues and Ethics...73 CR
S2 GENS4015 Brave New World..................55 PS
========================================================

The best part was when I passed my subjects.

Much to my dismay, it seems like I will be an audience to the world's smallest violin again.. I am really not looking forward to Soft Cons in 2004.. really..

GG for all those who managed to scrape by for it..

and now for some trivia which i promised john i would post..

One Saddam Hussein is now in US custody as of a few hours ago.. GG America

IONize (7:26 PM) :
G'day Kai
How's it going?
cheesy (7:26 PM) :
I'm OK. How the the trip to Melbounre, did u just get back

IONize (7:27 PM) :
that's great
i returned a week or two ago
i'm in hong kong now, for a few weeks en route to the US
cheesy (7:28 PM) :
Shit, kwong's in Hong Kong, have u seen him. So u going to the exchange. Good luck to u on that, when will u be back
IONize (7:29 PM) :
yeah emailed him, but he's busy like every day and he's leaving HKG for Thailand on monday, then back to sydney. it's a shame, i won't be able to see him until 2005.
Return to sydney around feb 2005 probably
cheesy (7:30 PM) :
That's a long time. Should had a PC session before u left.
IONize (7:31 PM) :
hahahaahha
i was dead busy
road trip then straight to HKG. Barely had time to pack =]
IONize (7:31 PM) :
So, results for last session all good?
cheesy (7:32 PM) :
Ah, u wont believe, di u pass near browa or something during ur trip to Melbourne. I was on a tour bus to Young for cherry picking and I swear I saw ur car, number plate BJL 888?
IONize (7:33 PM) :
hahah yeah actually we went to Young for cherry picking too. It was a sunday. That's my car.
=]
cheesy (7:35 PM) :
Shit, u were overtaking us but then u stopped at the road for some reason and we passed u and never saw ur car again. I was gonna give u a buzz to see whether u were going to Young but there was no signal. Yep it was Sunday and we left at about 6am
IONize (7:36 PM) :
yeah i recall overtaking a bus full of passengers on it
HAHhahaahah
man what a coincidence.
i also recall the bus passing us when we pulled over to take in some scenery

IONize (7:36 PM) :
yeah we left sydney at 6am too lol
6am on teh dot
cheesy (7:37 PM) :
Mate that was it. I saw u KJ doing a stretch, and the green car was behind u. Got say cherry picking is not that fun. although the fresh peaches were very good
IONize (7:44 PM) :
hAhAHAhahaHAAH
IONize (7:44 PM) :
cherries were brilliant though, we so fresh
yeah we were stretching =]

My love for you will never end
You'll always be a part of me
As long as time keeps on passing by
You’ll always be my baby boy

If you were to go, I don’t know
You’re the only one who
sweeps me off my feet
Makes my soul go weak
The only one who makes
my heart wanna beat and I,
I could never live without you
You know that what I feel has to be true
Cause you’re my, my sweet love

That wallpaper works fine as 1024*768 anyway

if you want my body, and you think I'm sexy,
come on sugar let me know.
if you really need me, just reach out and touch me,
come on honey tell me so.
na na na na na na na na na na na.

the blue power led on my new case can illuminate the whole room.

Gone are the days when photos do not tell lies.

Wallpaper for 1280x800: Parkes

Oh yes, considering buying a digital camera, a significant portion of usage would be to make movies (in America). Any recommendations?

I can get most popular brands fairly cheap over here, my uncle knows a place in particular that sells at great prices.
He recommends the Sony P-10, 5MPs, but may not be what i'm looking for.

Also, one fitted with SD/MMC technology would be beneficial, because my notebook has an SD card reader (haha proprietary sucking me in) and my uncle just gave me a Palm Tungsten T as a gift, which has an SD/MMC card reader too. I have two appliances with SD card capability. Give me a hatrick babyyyyyyyy. Except Sony devices don't use that. Ah well.

Searching for Digital Cameras is going to be a bitch, just like searching for my notebook.

haha sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

Forgot to say, very nice performance in Algos James.
:)

ELEC2031 Supplementary granted. Test on Thursday.

wouldn't the term footrest be more accurately described as feetrest?

stacy's mum has got it going on
she's all i want and i've waited for so long
stacy can't you see, you're just not for me
i know it might be wrong, but i'm in love with stacy's mum

Wow, so much postings in one day

Johno, glad your plane made it to HK in one piece
Those marks once again justified the theory of opponent processes. The more bitches life throws at you, the more you can handle.

Waiting for exam results is like bungee jump, anticipation kills you before it arrives.

i have the complete set as well. i nicked them off jono at john's place

i'm sure everyone's sick of hearing about the road trip by now. those who didn't go anyway.
but with the truancy of jono, i realize that only james and i have the complete set of photos and movies from the trip.

what this means about the said distribution of cd's is up to further organization and planning.

Genius. Email fired away.

e-mailing kwong might be a better idea.

lets hope my results which come out on the 16th will be as good as yours.

John: haha thanks for that, I hope I'll be able to see Kwong sometime while I'm in HKG, but we never managed to exchange contact details. I dropped him an ICQ message but doubt he will be able to view that message before he returns to Australia, in which time I will be in the U.S.

Marc: Congrats on not needing to do SoftCons again. :)

James: Are we in deep shit? Either you talk to ELEC and sort out your special consideration request somehow, or does this now mean you have no chance of completing your degree in 4 years flat? If so, maybe you should take summer session easier now. I'm sure you've considered these options, just thought I'd bring them to light.

Meanwhile, I'm ecstatic but feeling crap at the same time, simply because my overall average is shooting me in the foot.

S2 CHEM1817 Chemistry 1ME............................77 DN
S2 ELEC0807 Electrical Engineering 1E..............83 DN
S2 MATH2039 Engineering Mathematics 2B.......94 HD
S2 MATH2839 Statistics SM................................92 HD
S2 MECH2411 Mechanics of Solids 2A................83 DN
S2 MECH2612 Fluid Mechanics B........................93 HD
S2 MECH2712 Thermodynamics B......................82 DN
========================================================

Term WAM: 85.875 Overall WAM: 74.250

The marks for this semester I cannot believe, as well as the Term WAM, but the overall WAM I must say, is fairly uselessssssssssssssssssssss to me. 0.75 from a distinction average. ah well. Excuse me while I bitch about relatively good marks.

I'm trying to digest these marks one subject at a time, but they're beginning to mean nothing to me. I expect low-mid 70's for most of my subjects, yet these figures come out.

Like seriously, 7 subjects, with a semester where I slack off, and my lowest mark is 77? Is UNSW turning into USYD? (haha no offence Kwong et al)

Whisky Tango Foxtrot, over and out

========================================================
Session Course Title Result
========================================================
S2 COMP3111 Software Engineering.............63 PS
S2 COMP3120 Introduction to Algorithms.......82 DN
S2 COMP3221 Microprocessors & Embedded Sys...68 CR
S2 ELEC2031 Circuits and Systems.............23 FL
S2 GENT1301 Contemporary American Film.......59 PS
S2 MATH2520 Complex Analysis.................52 PS
========================================================

Harmonic mean is mean.

hey u can buy a dell computer and have all black lcd. get a limited edition pearl motherboard with black PCB too.

AIYA DUUUUU results are out:

========================================================
Session Course Title Result
========================================================
S2 ACCT1511 Accounting & Financial Mgt 1B....71 CR
S2 COMP2041 Software Construction............55 PS
S2 LAWS1011 Criminal Law 2...................56 PS
S2 LAWS1072 Contracts 2......................64 PS
========================================================

I did not fail crim, despite having a friggin hugeass exam weighting. And I managed to remain alright for contracts exam for 2 days of study. I am proud as.

Accounting is meh. Exam mark same as assessment.

Software construction you piece of shit. I never want to see you again. I don't bloody care that i got 55, just so long as i don't have to do it again. This subject is worthless and has nothing to offer. Actually its just the lazy arse course admin. Get a life.

comp works again.
now my room is a little bit more coherent, with this black and silver case. now all i need are an lcd screen, and some kind of black printer.

you forgot to thank yourself jono, for taking your beloved excel, and putting the most work into making the whole thing happen. w00t.

say hi to kwong for me if you see him.

you send us your keys and we bag yours.
:)

Just out of interest, how do you get an excel in Summer 2004?

Native resolution's 1280 x 800. Makes it a bit difficult to cater for widescreen modes - cropping required.

P.S. The broadband here in HKG is DA BOMB. 400kb/s average speeds, blows iinet out of the water, I have to say. Maybe Optus beats it, but for unlimited capping and approx $AU40.00 per month... :)

Oh Jono,
What's the native resolutoin of your notebook?
I need to get cracking on some roadtrip wallpapers!

A Road Odyssey 2005...
Sydney to Perth via Alice Springs.
A Jarnu production.
A Desert Tree production.
Featuring:
Excel
CRV
and
Lexus
Music by The Real McCoy, Michael Jackson and The Cranberries.
Featuring "Zombine" / aka. "In your head"
Comming in summer 2004!

And also a big thankyou to Yi and KJ for being great navigators for the Melbourne and outback roadtrip, made it so much easier on John and myself as the drivers; to Eric, the new Mr Accommodation expert who could book any place any where in 5 minutes flat and all of the motels were great; to James, Charlie, Yi, Rosalie and Eric for all the awesome pictures and movies as records and testament to the good time had by all, and to Scott and James for the perfect music DJ'ing while driving (especially along Great Ocean Road). Oh and to John for bringing his car along and driving all 3500 + kms virtually all by himself, and just to everyone as a group for being there and having a great time.

I hope we'll be able to organise another trip of the sort either with just you guys in 2004 or when I return in 2005 sometime.

And also thanks guys for everything, including the gifts at the airport and just for being there. That was great. And the gifts are 100% superb and perfect. The mug and magnet, the popular science magazine from Eric, and of course the awesome webcam (the built-in microphone's absolutely brilliant! The pictures seem to have some white vertical streaking though, for some reason. Otherwise, very nice.) just off the top of my head atm.

First day in HKG having dinner, reading my Lonely Planet USA Travel Guide and an American from Boston started chatting with me; he builds semiconductors for cellphones at a company called Skyworks, and his cousin just happens to be an astronaut by the name of Catherine Coleman. Thought I might just mention that out of interest.

So the fine came through?
Shat that was quick.
Unfortunately, it seems my brother was wrong in that case.
Well, it seems like a bargain almost, $265.
First offence, they treat us more nicely probably.

On behalf of john, who is currently fixing his comp:

The fine from Victoria is $265 and he said he'll pay it himself..

I don't want the world to change
I like the way it is
Just give me one more wish
I can't get enough of this

When it gets to be alive
And not just still survive
To hit and not to miss
I can't get enough of this

I finally found a 2^x where x is more than two digits that's applicable to something tangible.

The number of pictures that can be drawn on 640x480 using 24bit colour is 2^7372800.
WoW.

Random Roadtrip Photo

Jono,

Amazing marks - go kill them all [purduians].
That's an order.

BTW, webcam is now operational; the miniDV in USB mode is one kick
ass webcam!

Amazing how much a bit of hardwork can take you.

I am quitting star when uni starts 2004.

QOTD

Alexis:
86 complex [analysis]
I want your results so I need you to help me transferring to aerospace

hahahaha
man that song is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo awesomnia right now.
Awesomnia is the only word I can think of that suits this situation best.

may you see, it's not me
it's not my family
in your head, in your head
they're fighting
with their tanks, and their bombs
and their bombs , and their guns
in your head, in your head
they are crying.

Maths marks are out
MATH2039 Engineering Maths 2B 94 HD

MATH2839 Statistics SM 92 HD

Provisional, of course. But stats is MAJOR WTF??? ? ?

oh and benny i have your sunnies/glasses

in my possession are jono's accomodation book, various maps of victoria, 4 used aaa batteries, and someone's david beckham book.

BBQ-wise, Sunday night is no-go - I have dinner with relatives
It'll have to be Sunday lunchtime or Monday lunchtime or possible Monday dinner.

Sunday - Lucy's baptism at 10am, not sure when it finishes (maybe 12 noon?) plus I need to be down at sans souci for dinner at 6pm.
Sunday's not idealllllllllllllllllll
Monday's good, I want to spend heaps of time like just bumming (at john's house etc), not just a quick BBQ meal.
Monday however, James may have summer school
James?

and just a note - if you're interested my plane leaves at 4:15pm Tuesday

the walkie talkie is still mia.

I think the roadtrip would be best summed up with one word: fantabudiculous.

More highlights:
-Getting ourselves among the tantalising hues of sunset, rainbow, and lightening storm somewhere on our way from bendigo to griffith.
-1.28gbs worth of digital photos and videos plus 5 minus 1 plus 2 rolls of films pending development.

Road trip was fantastic.

Highlights:
* Cherry picking, someone ate the cherry on the tree and left a seed hanging
* "Best Fish and Chips" in Australia was hopeless
* Belvedere Pizza is the best Pizza west of the Blue Mountains
* Cattleman's Special (Steak) is the biggest steak we've ever seen
* Only 20 penguins came out at Philip island. All humans froze to death.
* Parkes telescope is huge.
* Driving on Great Ocean Road is like taking part of a car ad.

And of course, 137KM/H Speeding ticket x 2.

home sweet home!!
apart from the slight hiccup(s), the trip was funtastic.

typing on this keyboard and using this mouse actually feels foreign. i've made 3 typoes already while typing this post. four now.

now be prepared to be bombarded with some amazing and some not quite so amazing photos and videos.

Yay
first post in 2 days

but seriuously,
there's tumble weed rolling all over this blog - COME BACK FROM MELBOURNE AND LIVEN IT UP PPLZ !!!

i like things.